NASA announced Thursday, August 25 it would fund four short-term studies made by emerging launch vehicle and aerospace companies of alternate access to the International Space Station (ISS).
The 90-day studies were awarded by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to Andrews Space and Technology, HMX Inc., Kistler Aerospace and Microcosm. The total value of the contracts announced Thursday was just over $900,000.
The four companies will each look into the concept of allowing commercial vehicles to ferry supplies and even crew members to and from the station. At the present time the participating nations in the ISS plan to support the station using government-funded and operated vehicles, such as the space shuttle, but delays and other problems with these vehicles could cause problems for the station.
"This potential alternate means of transportation could help us meet our commitments to the station," said Dan Dumbacher, manager of the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle office at Marshall. NASA is particularly interested in commercial services that could provide access to the station on as little as a week's notice.
"These companies will develop concepts for alternate access to the Space Station, determine what a launch service needs to do to meet the requirements, and offer suggestions on specific development risk-reduction activities, such as technology development or business planning, that we need to perform," Dumbacher said.
The four companies are likely to provide different perspectives on the role of commercial alternative access to the station. Kistler, arguably the best known of the four companies, has been working on its K-1 reusable launch vehicle for several years.
"The K-1 can provide NASA with low-cost, responsive and flexible launch services for contingency resupply needs to the ISS," said Kistler CEO George Mueller. "This study is a first step in demonstrating how the K-1 will meet the NASA visiting vehicle requirements for safe and efficient rendezvous and berthing with the ISS."
Microcosm has been working on a small low-cost expendable launch vehicle, with plans to eventually develop larger versions. Neither HMX nor Andrews Space and Technology are currently developing launch vehicles, but have worked with other launch-vehicle companies; HMX is headed by Gary Hudson, who until June was CEO of Rotary Rocket Company, another reusable launch-vehicle company.
Commercial launch-vehicle companies have welcomed any opportunity to break into the market for ISS resupply, given weaker demand for commercial launches in the wake of failures like ICO and Iridium. Some have argued that allowing commercial resupply of the station would break "the chicken and egg dilemma" by allowing companies to establish themselves in the marketplace with ISS launches before winning commercial contracts.
"Alternate access to the space station is a potential market opportunity for emerging or established U.S. launch companies," agreed Dumbacher.
NASA's proposed fiscal-year 2001 budget includes $40 million to begin studies of ISS alternative access as part of the $4.4 billion multi-year Space Transportation Initiative. ProSpace, a citizens' space lobbying group, has argued that this amount should be doubled.
"Congress should increase the funding for 'Alternative Access' to a level that will promote the development of a variety of new ISS-capable vehicles wholly within the private sector," the organization argued during its annual "March Storm" Congressional lobbying effort this year. Doing so, ProSpace believes, would demonstrate to private industry and potential investors that NASA was willing to allow commercial firms access to "a substantial portion of the lucrative ISS resupply market."
Alternative access, as well as the rest of the $300 million earmarked for the Space Launch Initiative, was slashed earlier this year by the House of Representatives as it passed its version of NASA's 2001 budget. However, insiders on Capitol Hill believe that most or all of the funding will be restored by the time the final version of the budget is approved this fall.
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